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PubMed1985

The effect of methylphenidate on information processing.

Models of information processing currently popular in cognitive psychology divide the reaction process into a series of discrete separable stages. The distinction between one stage and another is verified by the additive factors method (AFM) as defined by Sternberg (1969). Task factors that do not interact with each other are inferred to affect different stages. The distinction between stimulus evaluation stages and response selection stages has been supported by brain event related potential (ERP) studies. The latency of the P300 component of the ERP is sensitive to changes in stimulus complexity but not to to changes in response complexity. The focus of this research is to determine the effects of stimulant drugs on stages of information processing using both reaction time (RT) and P300 latency within an AFM framework. Four doses of methylphenidate (MP) were used in a within-subjects design to examine the effects of MP on stimulus and response processing. We found that MP speeds RT, and that this effect does not interact with the effect of stimulus complexity on RT. MP dose interacts with response complexity, the dose for optimal speeding varying with the level of complexity. The latency of P300 is increased by stimulus complexity, and not by response complexity, nor is it affected by MP. These results show that the stimulant drug acts on processes involved in response selection, rather than in stimulus evaluation. Individual differences in drug response are dose dependent, but also point to an effect on response processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

The attachment of a retarded child to an inanimate object: translation into clinical utility.

This paper describes the relationship of a moderately retarded boy with autistic features to an inanimate object, relates this relationship to his emotional development, and suggests methods for utilizing observations of his behavior with the object for assessment of cognition. The authors suggest that the object differs only qualitatively from a transitional object. Implications for the evaluation of retarded children include the necessity for approaches identical to those used in evaluating intellectually normal children and interdisciplinary assessment with combinations of behavioral and dynamic techniques. Implications for parent counseling, institutional policies, therapeutic practice, psychological assessment, and personality theory are outlined.

Child↗
PubMed2005

Experience in the use of the palliative care outcome scale.

GOALS OF WORK: The objective of the study is to assess the Palliative Care Outcome Scale (POS) as a potential audit tool within a specialist cancer centre. It also aims to answer the following questions: does the tool identify problem areas and demonstrate changes in quality of life over time? How well do staff and patient ratings correlate? PATIENTS AND METHODS: The POS questionnaire was piloted at a specialist cancer centre. Thirty consecutive patients admitted to the palliative care wards and ward staff completed questionnaires on admission and twice weekly until discharge or death. A further questionnaire assessed staff attitudes. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in overall patient POS score at 1 week (days 5-9). Four "symptoms" or issues were scored as being important for our patients: pain, other symptoms, anxiety and patient's perception of family anxiety. These all significantly improved within the first week. At the initial assessment, staff underestimated patients' pain and overestimated problems relating to information giving and patients' ability to share their feelings. There was no significant difference between staff and patient scores after 1 week. The other six areas covered by the tool were less important; this may reflect the patient population seen at our centre. Use of the tool identified areas for staff training and effectively demonstrated improvement in patient care. CONCLUSION: The POS is an outcome measure tool designed to assess physical, psychological, practical and existential aspects of quality of life. It may be useful in identifying problems in individual patients and directing care to address these needs.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Response repetition benefits and costs.

In a wide variety of tasks, choice reaction time (RT) is reduced for repetitions of the previous response. However, when the task itself or a relevant physical feature that successive trials have in common changes, costs for response repetitions can be observed. In a series of three experiments it was investigated whether the repetition of a response results in costs if the stimulus category changes. Furthermore, it was asked whether there need to be informative physical task features that successive trials have in common to produce response repetition costs. In alternating runs, participants had to respond to either one of four symbols or one of the letters with a binary choice reaction: Results suggest that a change of stimulus category is a sufficient condition to produce response repetition costs. It is hypothesized that any change of a task feature that is part of the task representation participants adopt leads to a disruption of repetition-based facilitation and tends to facilitate a response alternation.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Age-of-acquisition and cumulative frequency have independent effects.

Lewis (1999) argued that effects of age of acquisition (AoA) are entirely attributable to cumulative frequency. He reported an instance-based model in which the number of instances of the stimulus stored in memory predicts reaction time. We note four aspects of the literature on AoA that cannot be explained by this instance-based approach. Firstly, an effect of AoA has been observed in the absence of an effect of frequency. Secondly, an effect of AoA has been observed when cumulative frequency has been controlled. Thirdly, the effect of AoA is dependent on task. Fourthly, the effect of word frequency is dependent on stimulus modality. Lewis reported an experiment in which participants make a decision based on identity-specific semantic information to celebrity faces to demonstrate an effect of the number of instances in memory, which he interpreted as an effect of AoA. We note that effects of AoA have been found in lexical and perceptual tasks, but to date all attempts to demonstrate an advantage for early-acquired items in semantic classification tasks have failed. We conclude that the effects of AoA cannot be attributed solely to the effects of cumulative frequency.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1999

Intermittent degradation in performance in schizophrenia.

In a series of repeated trials, schizophrenic patients often fluctuate in performance. Our data suggest that it may be useful, not just to report an increased variance relative to nonschizophrenics, but to model these fluctuations concretely as transitions between a relatively normal and an abnormal cognitive state - an intermittent degradation in performance that may be related to transient abnormalities in CNS functioning. We define 'dialipsis' as a temporary substitution of a less efficient process of task performance. This phenomenon is mentioned in the literature, but the descriptions of dialipsis are heuristic rather than based on a statistical model. We present a mixture model in which the ordinary and degraded states are described by distinct ANOVA structures, each with its own task, subject and interaction effects, with transitions between them occurring at random times. We discuss ways of detecting dialipsis and comparing the mixture model statistically with alternative models.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2004

[Living with pain--elderly women as experts in the management on their chronic musculoskeletal pain].

Chronic musculoskeletal pain in the elderly is very common. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight in elderly people's pain medication beliefs. Problem-focused interviews with eight women were conducted. The results show them to be experts in managing pain, which task turns out to be too complex to be described in terms of pain medication beliefs. Using the method of qualitative content analyses five main categories including subcategories were inductively generated and presented in a structured way. The category "to be carried by one's life and illness trajectory" evolved as a basic category in the pain management. It includes the subcategories "to gain experiences from one's life and illness", "to have knowledge of the causes of pain and of their treatment", "to learn how to manage pain in everyday life" as well as "to rely on spiritual well-being". Most important for the women is their every day reality "to live with pain and its physical, psychological, practical and social effects". This leads to "weigh, to combine and to evaluate treatments for pain relief" which includes the subcategories "to be disciplined in carrying out non-pharmacological measures for pain relief", "to use pain medication sparingly but purposefully" and "to cooperate as a partner with health professionals". Some of the participants are challenged by "reaching their limits", which means "to reach the limits of endurable pain", "to experience the limits of failed treatment effects" as well as "to reach the limits of endurable treatment side effects". "To sustain one's quality of life in spite of pain" seems to be the aim of the elderly women's endeavour. The results of this study demand collaborative care in a partnership with elderly people with pain acknowledging their expertise. The results also ask for transdisciplinary efforts to support elderly persons with pain and for the development as well as the evaluation of self-management education programs.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Cultural diversity and treatment of children.

The increasing cultural diversity of child clients has produced a cascade of new issues and concerns for psychological practice, theory, and research. Available evidence and pertinent theory are reviewed on such topics as the predictive utility and treatment consequences of ethnic membership, whether treatments should be generic or specific to cultural groups, the degree of privilege that should be accorded to same-culture therapists, and the relative desirability of different modalities of treatment for children of different cultural groups. The concept of cultural compatibility of treatment is explored and evaluated. A broad agenda of hypotheses for research and development is suggested, and some guidelines for clinical practice and policy are proposed. It is concluded that insofar as possible, treatment for all children should be contextualized in their family's and community's structure of meanings, relationships, and language.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Visual search as a function of type of prior experience with target and distractor.

In a visual search task, participants identified the presence of a unique shape against a background of homogeneous distractors. Types of prior experience with the target, the distractor, or both were examined. In 2 experiments, a preexposure (PE) phase was followed by a test phase. The test display consisted of a target that was either target or distractor in PE or novel. Distractors were either targets or distractors in PE or novel. Reaction time was fastest for novel targets with familiar distractors, irrespective of the source of familiarity, and slowest for novel targets with novel distractors. Results are discussed in terms of attentional explanations of latent inhibition (LI) and perceptual learning and of visual search phenomena, such as novel popout. LI, previously attributed only to a deficit in the stimulus preexposed group, may also be due to enhanced performance in the nonpreexposed group.

Association↗